On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN Primetime,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed acknowledged that the city has “been far too lenient” on drugs, but also responded to Target closing stores in the city by stating that “people don’t necessarily shop in the same ways that they did before” and that the growth of AI “requires us to make some significant adjustments in how we use our retail establishments as well.” Breed also stated that while retail theft is an issue “it’s a problem that’s also happening in other places all over the country as well.”
Host Abby Phillip asked, “One of the things, just in the last couple of days, you’ve talked about is requiring drug testing for welfare recipients in your city, as San Francisco battles a fentanyl epidemic, also battling some serious crime issues. Do you think that your party, the Democratic Party, has been too lenient on this issue of crime? And are you trying to show some courage here by pushing back on what some in your party might think is the right approach to dealing with these issues?”
Breed answered, “Well, I would say that many of the decisions that I make as Mayor aren’t really about my party. They’re more about my personal experiences, as well as my desire to see my city safe. Some people know that I, unfortunately, lost a sister to a drug overdose. I grew up in the crack epidemic in public housing, where drug use and the addiction was all around me, and losing friends and loved ones to drugs and to the criminal justice system was a normal part of my life. And part of my recommendation is really coming from people who were formerly incarcerated and who continue to call themselves former addicts, from the work that they’re doing and just the challenges they experienced in their life in the past and the need for us, as a city — and I can only speak to San Francisco and my relationships there — but as a city, how we have been far too lenient, how we need to make sure that people are held accountable. And, to be clear, my goal in this is to require, not sobriety, it’s to require that you are a part of a treatment program, which we can do under California state law. And I think that whatever we have available to us we need to use it.”
Breed continued, “Fentanyl and what it’s doing in terms of the number of deaths — we had more deaths from fentanyl overdoses than we did during the COVID pandemic, and we shut the entire world down to deal with that. And this fentanyl crisis, which is not just happening in San Francisco, it’s happening all over the country, we have to start taking really aggressive steps. It’s not a Democratic issue. It’s not a Republican issue. It’s really the desire to do everything we can to try and address substance use disorder in this city and in this country.”
Phillip then asked, “Target has decided to close a number of stores in the City of San Francisco. What’s your reaction to that?”
Breed responded, “Well, I would just say that I understand that there’s a challenge with what is happening around retail and retail theft, not just here in California, but all over the country, and especially a lot of major cities. But unfortunately, the highlight of this happens to be mostly with San Francisco. Things are changing. San Francisco is still an amazing city. It’s a beautiful city. It’s a place that people visit from all over the world. But also, it’s a changing city. And people don’t necessarily shop in the same ways that they did before. We have a lot of companies here. We’re the AI, artificial intelligence capital of the world, we’re starting to see that industry grow significantly. How people shop, how people move around the city and drive, autonomous vehicles, you name it, it’s happening here in San Francisco. And it requires us to make some significant adjustments in how we use our retail establishments as well. So, I think it’s — the retail theft is definitely a problem that we need to address, but it’s a problem that’s also happening in other places all over the country as well.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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